Overhead contact-shoe for electric railways.



G. GIBBS & E. R. HILL. OVERHEAD CONTACT SHOE FOR ELECTRIC RAH-WAYS. APPLICATION FILED MAR.26, 1914.

1,100,014, 7 Patented June 16,1914

4 SHEETSr-SHEET 1.

COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 1:0,,WAsHINOTON. D. c.

G. GIBBS & E. R. HILL. OVERHEAD CONTACT SHOE FOR ELECTRIC BAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 26, 1914. 1,1 00,01 4. Patented June 16, 1914.

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G. GIBBS & E. R. HILL. OVERHEAD CONTACT snor: FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED MABHZG, 1914. Patented June 16, 1914.

4 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

"wi l! COLUMBIA- PLANOGRAPH C0" WASHINGTON. D. C.

G. GIBBS & E. R. HILL. OVERHEAD CONTACT SHOE FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.26, 1914.

Patented June 16, 1914.

SHEET 4.

4 SHEETS- COLUMBIA PLANOQRAPH co., WASHINGTON, D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE:

GEORGE GIBBS, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AND ERNEST R. HILL, OF EAST ORANGE, NEW

JERSEY.

OVERHEAD CONTACT-SHOE FOR ELECTRIC RAILWAYS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GEORGE GIBBS and ERNEST R. HILL, both citizens of the United States, residing, respectively, at New York, county and State of New York, and at East Orange, in the county of Essex and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Overhead Oontact-Shoes for Electric Railways, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact de scription.

In the operation of electric railways with overhead trolley wires it is customary, especially in the case of high operating voltages, to collect the current by means of a transverse shoe, usually in the form of a fiat plate or a roller, carried by a jointed pantograph or other yielding support which presses the shoe or roller upwardly upon the underside of the wire. To insure that the shoe will always be in contact with the wire, while permitting considerable latitude in the position of the wire with respect to the central plane of contact, the shoe is usually made of considerable length, and is commonly provided with downwardly curved ends or horns to prevent the wire slipping ofl? or past the shoe under abnormal conditions and to assist in resumption at crossings and turnouts and the like. Where the wire is very high, and where track conditions are such as to cause excessive oscillation of the shoe, with corresponding oscilla tion of the wire, it is necessary to have the shoe and horns very long, particularly for high speed travel. Such shoes, however, are objectionable on account of the danger of interference at points on the line where the lateral clearance is small, as, for example, at tunnels, arched bridges and other places. Usually at such places the overhead clearance is also restricted, as where low bridges require the pantograph to operate in a low or collapsed position. Under the latter conditions the transverse movement or oscillation of the shoe is very much less because of the reduced distance between the wire and the rails, and it is therefore not necessary at such points to use a shoe of extreme width. We have accordingly availed ourselves of this fact in devising our present invention, which has for its. chief object to provide a shoe which can collapse or be reduced in length transversely (preferably automatically) when a point is reached where Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 26, 1914.

Patented June 16, 1914.

Serial No. 827,292.

lessened lateral clearance makes interference possible or dangerous. By preference, the collapse or shortening of the shoe is made dependent upon the depression of the pantograph orother support occasioned by a low position of the trolley wire, since at such places, as explained above, the lateral oscillation of the shoe or wire or both is usually quite small. To this and other ends the invention consists in the novel features of construction and combinations of elements hereinafter described.

Several convenient and effective forms of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a side view of a complete pantograph and shoe embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is a detail view on a larger scale and partly in section, showing one end of the depressed shoe with its horn swung down. Figs. 3, 4 and 5 are details on the same scale as Fig. 2, Fig. 3 showing one end of the shoe in plan with the horn extended, Fig. 4: being a section on line 44 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 5 a side view showing a modification. Fig. 6 is a plan view, and Fig. 7 a front view, illustrating another form of. the invention.

The shoe illustrated comprises a tubular rod 10 (Fig, 2, for example) to each end of which is fixed a casting 11 to which the sheetmetal t0p-plate 12 is fixed. The rod serves as the pivot for the upper joint of the pantograph, while at each end the casting or end-piece 11 carries a pivot bolt 13 to support a horn 14 and permit the same to swing downward. It will of course be understood that both ends of the shoe are equipped alike. The shoe springs 15- (Figs. 1 and 2) connected at their upper ends to the end-piece 11 and at their lower ends to the pantograph arms 16, tend to hold the shoe yieldingly in its normal position against the tension of the pantograph springs. It is deemed unnecessary to illustrate any of the latter springs, as their use is well understood. At the bottom the pantograph is supported by a base frame 17, which in turn is supported by suitable insulators 18 on the top of the car or locomotive. As stated above, the collapse of the shoe, by the retraction of the horns, is preferably automatic, occurring when the pantograph is depressed by a low position of the trolley wire. For this purpose the horn is 110 connected by a link 19 to the end of a lever 20 fulcrumed at 21 on the end piece 11, so that when the lever is rocked the horn will swing up or down as the case may be.

The frame 17 is provided at each side with a rigid inwardly and upwardly extending cam arm 22, each composed, in the present instance, of an angle iron bent at 22 to form a narrow fork, and supporting a pair of spaced anti-friction rollers 23, 24:, so located as to be on opposite sides of the end of the lower arm of the lever 20. \Vhen a low portion of the trolley wire, for example in passing under a low bridge, depresses the pantograph far enough, the lever 20 comes in contact with the lower cam roller, 23. Further depression then causes the lever to rock counterclockwise (as shown in Fig.

2) and swing or retract the horn 14. to the position shown in dotted lines in F ig. 2, thereby shortening the shoe. When the trolley wire permits the shoe to rise, the operating lever 20 engages the upper cam roller 24; and is rocked in the clockwise direction, thereby raising or extending the horn to its normal or extended position.

It will be observed in Fig. 1 that the shoe has a long range within which it can move vertically without afiecting the position of the horns, that is to say, without bringing the lever into operative engagement with the cam roller 23. Similarly, as will be seen in Fig. 2, after the horns have been retracted the shoe can move vertically some little distance without bringing the lever into operative engagement with the cam roller 24;. It Will also be observed that the lever 20 and link 19 constitute a toggle. In raising the horn the center joint 25 of the toggle moves past the dead center (the line joining centers of the end pivots 21, 26) until the lever 20 comes against the stop 27 on the end piece 11, so that the horn is automatically locked against downward movement under the influence of its own weight or the oscillation and vibration of the pantograph.

The modification illustrated in Fig. 5 differs fro-m the construction described only in the provision of means for locking the lever (and consequently the horn also) in both positions without utilizing the toggle to perform that function. For such purpose the lever 20 is equipped at its fulcrum with a notched locking cam 28 to cooperate with a pointed bolt or plunger shown in dotted lines at 29, movable vertically in the end piece 11 and pressed into engagement with the cam by a spring 30. The two notches 31, 32, which are preferably rather wide and shallow so as to facilitate locking and unlocking, are arranged to correspond to the extreme positions of the lever, thereby locking the latter yieldingly in each position but permitting operative movement of the lever when the same is brought against the cam rollers (not shown in Fig. 5) wit-h suiiicient force.

In the form illustrated in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 the shoe is collapsed by telescoping the horns into the body or central portion of the shoe. For this purpose the horns (one of which is shown at 14;") are mounted to slide in guides in the end-pieces 11" and are actuated by links 3: connecting them with a lever fulcrumed on a member 36 fixed r to the underside of the shoe at the center of the latter. Springs 37, connected to the lever and to the rods 10", tend to rock the lever clockwise (as seen in Fig. 6) and so hold the horns in extended position. Dopending from, and fixed to, the lever 37) is stem 38, to the lower end of which an arm 39 is fixed, to cooperate with a tubular cam-member 40 mounted on a support ll carried bv the base frame 17 The member 40 is provided with upwardly open helical cam-slots 12, to receive and rock the arm 39 sufiiciently (say 180) when the shoe is depressed, thereby drawing the horns into the body of the shoe. As the shoe rises, the cam slots reverse the movement of the arm and extend the horns. As in the case of form first described, the shoe has a long range of vertical movement without affecting the position of the horns. It is evident that the range of movement after the horns are retracted depends upon the extent of the lower vertical portions of the cam slots 41. By lengthening these portions this lower range of movement can be increased to any extent desired.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the devices specifically illustrated and described herein, but can be em bodied in other forms without departure from its proper spirit and scope.

We claim:

1. The combination with a vertically movable contact shoe for the purpose described, of retractable end portions or horns, and means for retracting the horns to shorten the effective length of the shoe.

2. The combination with a vertically movable contact shoe, of retractable en lportions or horns, and automatic means to retract and extend the horns, operable when the shoe is in a predetermined position.

3. The combination with a contact shoe having retractable end-portions or horns, of a vertically collapsible and expansihle support for the shoe, means carried by, and moving with, the shoe to retract and extend the end-portions thereof, and means in the path of the first-named mean to cause the same to operate when the shoe reaches a predetermined position.

at. The combination of a vertically movable contact shoe having a retractable endportion, a lever carried by the shoe and connected with the end-portion to retract and extend the same, and fixed means in the path of the lever to actuate the same.

The combination with a vertically yielding pantograph, a fixed base therefor, a contact shoe carried by the pantograph and having retractable end-portions, means moving vertically with the shoe to retract and extend the end-portions, and actuating means carried by the aforesaid base and arranged in the path of the first-named means.

(3. The combination of a vertically movable contact shoe having a retractable endportion, a toggle carried by the shoe and connected with the end portion to retract the same, and means below the shoe and in the path of the toggle to actuate the latter.

7. The combination of a vertically movable contact shoe comprising a body portion and a horn pivoted at the end of the body portion, a lever pivoted to the body portion, a link connected to the horn and to one arm of the lever, and means below the shoe and in the path of the other arm of the lever to actuate the same.

S. The combination of a vertically movable contact shoe having a retractable endportion, a lever fulcrumed on the shoe, a

able contact shoe having a retractable endportion, a lever carried by the shoe and connected with the end-portion to retract and extend the latter, and a cam arm below the shoe and provided with rollers in thepa-th of the lever to actuate the same in both directions.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatures in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

GEORGE GIBBS. V ERNEST R. HILL. itnesses EDMUND J. BELL, GEORGE C. ABBE.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

